The present invention relates to apparatus for producing cast products and in particular to apparatus in which non-solid materials such as water, chocolate, fish cake, fish paste and rubber for erasers are filled in an elastic mould of open-bag shape, and then are solidified to yield products.
A variety of materials including food-stuffs have been produced by means of moulding. Conventional mould have been constructed of a plurality of split moulds made of a rigid body. According to these conventional methods, materials are first filled into the split moulds to allow to solidify inside the moulds, and then withdrawn by separating the split moulds.
These split moulds, however, tend to leave the joint of the mould on the surface of the product thus formed, resulting in lower product values. A large number of moulds and complicated production steps are required especially when products of complicated shapes are desired to be formed. Furthermore, since the split mould is made of a rigid body, the manufacture of the split mould itself is so expensive that the product cost tends to be high. Especially when a variety of product types but small production rates are necessary, the cost of the split mould occupies a greater part of the total cost of the product, and this almost prohibits the actual production of desired products. In addition, the split mould made of a rigid body often breaks under a high pressure or a vacuum which may be applied to the mould when a material solidifies whose volume changes with temperatures of the solidification step.